Tag Archives: George Orwell

Priorities?

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New York City Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani wants to help the city’s economically challenged to have a better life. He is talking about rent control, city-operated grocery stores with free or very low-priced food. He has stated that millionaires shouldn’t exist. He frowns on private property. He himself is the child of wealth who seems to enjoy thoroughly what that wealth has given him.

Amuse on Substack posted an article about Mamdani’s recent celebration of his wedding. It was a lavish affair in Uganda that lasted for three days and cost approximately $250,000. He is entitled to spend his money any way he wants to, but if he is so concerned with New York City’s economically challenged, why doesn’t he throw some of his money their way? Why does he choose to be charitable with other people’s money while living lavishly with his own? Why not buy a building and let people live there rent free? Why not fund a drug rehab center or an alcohol rehab center?

The article concludes:

As George Orwell once wrote of British socialists in The Road to Wigan Pier, the problem is not the idea of socialism but the people who advocate it. He observed that many socialists do not love the poor, they simply hate the rich. Mamdani embodies this paradox. He does not hate luxury. He hates its availability to anyone else.

And what of New York? If Mamdani governs as he lives, then the city is in trouble. His plans include rent controls so severe they would hollow out the housing market, defunding the police at a time of rising crime, and replacing core public services with untested socialist experiments. His ideology is not tempered by responsibility. It is validated by fantasy.

The irony is thick. The man who declared that “capitalism is theft” held a $500,000 wedding on a private estate, protected by military police, while advocating for the seizure of private property. That is not public service. That is theatrical oligarchy. Mamdani may call himself a radical. But he is something more familiar: a privileged revolutionary who wants to burn down your house so he can rule from his.

If New York City elects this man, they deserve everything they will get!

Truth vs Lies

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Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D harropcrew1@gmail.com

The basis of all effective human dialog and interaction should be truth. This is particularly vital in the political realm where voters must make decisions on critical issues. Politicians have always been somewhat suspect about being truthful. What is occurring now in our country is beyond anything I have ever seen and threatens to further divide our country. This reminds me of George Orwell’s novel 1984, where the so-called Ministry of Truth, controlled what people were told.

There are far too many examples of politicians lying to list them all, but here are a few. The Inflation Reduction Act, initiated by the Biden regime, not only had nothing to do with reducing inflation, but actually did the opposite by increasing government spending and resulting in more inflation. Similarly, with the so-called student loan forgiveness program by Biden. This effort unjustly passes the debt on to other taxpayers. Truth would require it to be called the student debt transfer to others program. Management of the COVID19 pandemic was full of lies. Starting with the origin of the virus from gain of function projects funded by Dr. Fauci’s organization to the lack of effectiveness and danger of the vaccine, we were told numerous lies.

The border crisis that has been occurring during the Biden administration has resulted in an invasion that threatens to destroy our country was blamed on President Trump, The truth, of course, is that the Biden regime wanted an open border in order to get more voters. This lie continues with Biden’s recently announced program to limit illegal immigration. It does no such thing. The reality is that allowing 2500 illegals per day will produce 925,000 per year in addition to 900,000 from other admission programs. Another glaring example of government lies is the term “gender affirming care”, for the prescribing of destructive hormones, puberty blockers and surgery. It is truthfully biological sex change which is rarely ever successful and a reflection of, in many cases, an underlying mental illness.

The most recent example was Nancy Pelosi being caught on a video recording admitting that she was to blame for January 6th because she did not authorize the placement of National Guard troops around the Capitol as had been recommended by the Trump administration. Her lie was the basis for the entire effort to prosecute President Trump for what happened on that day and resulted in the unjust prosecution of thousands of innocent protestors.

It is obvious to any rational person that Truth is not a left wing value. They will say anything, do anything, and lie as needed to fool the public. The sad thing is that many people in this country accept these lies. The recent vote in Europe that has produced a move toward conservative government is encouraging. The election on November 5th will show whether the majority of citizens in this country realize they are being lied to and are ready to throw out the liars.

Tyranny of Bureaucracies

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Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D

In a recent article I wrote about how the Founding Fathers would be astonished at how we have allowed our freedoms to be curtailed by Big Government. If you have never read the novel, 1984 by George Orwell, now would be a good time to do so. Re-reading that book would also be useful if it has been awhile since you have done so. The theme of the book, written in the 1940s, relates how Big Government increasingly controlled people’s lives. With modern technology the effects can be even scarier.

One of the greatest threats is from ever expanding government agencies which actually have the power to implement rules and regulations that limit our freedom. For example, the Empire State Building in New York City was built in eighteen months. The approval process to build anything substantial today takes years; primarily, because of all the agencies that must give their approval. Consider the natural gas pipeline that that has been a part of the recent debt limit negotiations between the Biden administration and the Republican House of Representatives. The federal agencies that must review and give their approval consist of the Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency, National Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Bureau of Land Management, etc. There may also be state agencies that must approve. The review and approval process has no time frame. The construction may also be challenged in court by various groups. It is a wonder anything gets built in this country. Of course, this central control is right out of the Marxist playbook.

Let me give a more mundane example of bureaucratic tyranny. I own a 2016 Ram diesel truck that I use primarily for towing my RV. Two weeks ago, a warning code appeared on the dashboard indicating that the DEF (diesel emission fluid) system was not working properly and that I should take the truck to the dealer. I received an estimated repair cost of $3,000. Being somewhat of a do it yourself mechanic, I decided to fix it myself. Problem #1: no parts supplier in the New Bern area carried the DEF pump that I needed; nor could they order it from their usual vendor of repair parts. Problem #2: And this is the worst issue. The warning message stated that in 150 more miles the truck would not be able to operate at more than five miles per hour! Imagine being far from home and limping along at that speed–an almost guaranteed accident!

How did this restriction and control of the use of your own vehicle occur? Well, apparently, some government agency, (e.g. EPA) has required that manufacturers install computer programs that shut down your engine when you are violating one of their rules regardless of the negative impact on your safety and freedom to use your vehicle. Now this tyrannical control is only possible using modern computer modules. Add GPS monitoring, and they can control your speed, how far you travel, where you travel, etc.

This is where we are heading. We need to wake up and resist this tyranny. We need a president and elected officials who will fight this type of unconstitutional control of our lives. I am sure there are many other examples. President Trump, when he was in office, had the right idea when he instructed federal agencies under his control that they were required to eliminate two regulations for every new one they proposed. This was at least a start. Significantly cutting the budgets of these out of control federal agencies would also help. The Founding Fathers would never have put up with this. Why are we?

Changing The Rules And The Labels In The Middle Of The Game

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On Wednesday, Townhall posted an article about the new term for fully vaccinated.

The article reports:

With booster shots being increasingly pushed and many institutions now requiring them, the term “fully vaccinated” is being replaced, according to White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci.

“We’re using the terminology now ‘keeping your vaccinations up to date,’ rather than what ‘fully vaccinated’ means,” the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said Tuesday. “Right now, optimal protection is with a third shot of an mRNA or a second shot of a J&J.”

The article continues:

Much like the definition of ‘fully vaccinated,’ government officials have also changed the way vaccine mandates are discussed, preferring to use “requirements” instead. 

“Mandates—that’s a radioactive word. Requirements—people seem to respond better to that,” Fauci told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” last month. “They work. We are never going to get out of this outbreak if we still have 50 million people who for reasons that are still very, very difficult to understand refuse to get vaccinated when you have a virus that’s killed 800,000 Americans and caused 50 million infections so if people still do not want to get vaccinated sometimes you have to for the common good make requirements.”

In the book 1984, we are introduced to Newspeak.

A website called Majestic Grades notes:

…Orwell created newspeak, the official language of Oceania, to illustrate how language can corrupt thought and prove that totalitarian systems use language to restrict instead of broadening ideas. For instance, freedom cannot exist without a word for freedom.

The deep state is an expert at newspeak.